


Loose Shackles

by lobsterkaijin



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, Marriage, Misogyny, Past Abuse, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 22:35:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18748462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lobsterkaijin/pseuds/lobsterkaijin
Summary: It's whatever he wants, huh? Follow up toChains.





	Loose Shackles

Masaomi is lounging in the afternoon sun when a shadow from above blocks out the light. “Did you say something to Baby Five?”

If the heat hadn’t stolen all of his physical energy, and the aforementioned conversation with Baby Five hadn’t drained all his emotional energy, he’d have played coy, smiled like he hadn’t the faintest clue what Doflamingo was talking about, make the master do the work to drag an answer out of him. Splayed across the divan, with only the brain power to count the spade-shaped holes in the cherrywood backing with his fingers, little energy is left for playing their usual game. Doflamingo’s brows are furrowed, anyway. He’s in no mood for riddles.

“I suppose I may have said quite a number of things to her, Your Highness.” He shifts onto his side away from Doflamingo’s annoyance.

“You know I don’t like it when my family fights.”

Eyes falling shut, he tries to imagine a moment in the distant past where he was at peace and where Doflamingo wasn’t hovering over him like a disappointed parent. Maybe it would’ve worked had the young master not resolved to stand there until it was uncomfortable on the both of them. Sighing, Masaomi sits up, and although the divan is more than big enough for the both of them, he moves aside to give Doflamingo the space to take a seat beside him.

Doflamingo leans back and crosses his legs. A smile that could’ve been mistaken for a frown works its way onto his face, digging holes into the skin where it is most tense. He’s mirroring Masaomi’s body language; everything and nothing about him is relaxed.

“She’s quite the hot-blooded woman.” His remark is punctuated by a laugh that shakes the both of them. “Yet I’ve never seen her quite so distraught. Say, Masaomi, you’ve always treated women like fragile little things, so why were you so cruel to Baby Five?”

“And when it comes to cruelty, you’d know best, right, Master Doflamingo?”

The tone of his laugh drops low. “Do you think what I did was cruel?”

“Do you think what I _said_ was cruel?”

It’s quiet, though a gentle breeze rolls through the air.

Thinking back on it, he’d come to realize they were all like that. The men that came after Baby Five did not have her best interests in mind when propositioning her. Snakes, the lot of them, with jaws unhinged and fangs dripping lethal venom, they would wait until her back was turned to strike in her most vulnerable moment. They smelled the blood from the heart she wore on her sleeve. Her trust was but a tool to earn them entry. No human being with their wits about them chose slavery! But these slithering creatures wearing the skin of a lamb, who would latch onto weakness and bleed it dry, they sought the wretched to enact their perverse fantasy. Poor Baby Five, to have suffered so, that she knew not the demons lurking in the shadows! So sinister were they to prey upon her weakness! It boils his blood to think of their plotting.

Masaomi’s leg swings. “They see easy prey, vulnerability they can take advantage of. A woman with a weak will who would do anything to feel wanted, gods, she really is so painfully human, isn’t she? Leave her to her own devices and she damns herself to an eternity of servitude, none the wiser to the deleterious nature of a simple ‘yes.’”

Doflamingo hums in response. He knew his little bird would sing for him eventually.

“Sometimes mercy can wear the mask of cruelty,” Masaomi says with an air of finality.

Doflamingo misses a beat before answering. “Is that so?”

He’s struggling to keep his hands from moving wildly. “Murder is cruel, and murdering someone she claimed to care about equally so, but in doing so you protected her from a fate worse than death. It would be even more cruel to claim to love her then sit idly by as she is put in chains and carted away to live out the rest of her life on her knees.”

“Hm.” Doflamingo nods, and they fall back into silence again.

Is he right? Is he wrong? If that’s how Masaomi wants to see it, then that’s how Doflamingo will let him see it. Whatever helps him sleep better at night. Baby Five’s freedom didn’t matter to him so much as her loyalty. Her usefulness would wane as her priorities shifted to her house and husband. She would never be allowed to choose anyone over the Family. None of them would.

As benevolent as the hand for-hire is, in reality it was nothing like that. The very thought of some slimy bastard putting his greasy mitts all over his precious Baby Five angered him in a way he could not explain. At least the bastard put on a show as he died. The memory paints a wicked grin on Doflamingo’s face. First to go were his hands. There’d been a second of quiet, but just one or else it would’ve been boring, and then Artie’s screaming was music to Doflamingo’s ears. He’d never touch _his_ Baby Five again.

Because she _is_ his. _His_ little sister. _His_ family. So he gets to decide what happens to her.

Next to him there is a mind running a million miles a minute trapped in a body moving too slow for its liking, and he fears with how it vibrates it will explode all over him. Masaomi never was too good at sitting still or waiting for a response. Doflamingo returns Masaomi’s fervent stare with just as much intensity and obliges his impatient little bird.

“Baby Five is one of those poor unfortunate souls who are trapped in a hurricane of their own denial. You can offer them a lifeboat, but they’ve been drowning for so long, the thought of being on dry land again is terrifying.”

“I should not have spoken to her the way that I did,” he concludes. He stands with his hands clenched at his sides. “She shared her passions with me and _I,_ fiend that I am, shattered the dream and forced her to swallow the bleak shards of reality before she was ready.”

“Mm, terrible, really. Of all people to make Baby Five cry, _you,_ ” Doflamingo shakes his head, hiding his smirk at how tense his little bird grows. “She doesn’t know any better, and you couldn’t even let her down _easy._ For shame.”

“But Master Doflamingo, I—” He’s a whirlwind of emotion, a storm of heated indignance and cold agony brewing in his eyes. Thunder rolls in his voice and is followed by his hand striking his chest. “I could not have known, I would not have done it if I had, I never intended—”

It’s entertaining watching him struggle, but Doflamingo grows tired of the absence by his side, and holds out a hand to call his pet back to him. Instead of taking it, Masaomi’s gaze hardens, and he backs away, shaking his head. Tension rolls off of him like a tsunami. Huh, something is going on with his little bird today. They’d reached a conclusion so why did he insist on making something out of nothing? “Masaomi—”

“Was she right?”

“About—?”

Masaomi rubs the back of his neck. Doflamingo watches his gaze fall to the ground with little interest. “Is marriage synonymous with servitude?”

His little bird could be so frustratingly cute sometimes. There’s no need to make a show of it if guidance is what he’s after. Doflamingo throws his head back and laughs. “Who cares?”

Masaomi sputters. Twice he opens his mouth to say something but closes it when his brain makes it evident it is not ready to catch up with that logic just yet. He makes it sound so easy. As if to say only a mortal would concern themselves so thoroughly. The Heavenly Demon makes a playground of the heavens and a playroom of hell. Earth is his kingdom, of which he has many. He is above it all. What use has he for the folly of man? Yet now he’s in the mood for games. Who cares, Doflamingo asks, like the answer isn’t already obvious.

Seeing that he’s confused his little bird, Doflamingo waves a dismissive hand. “Marriage is a _transaction._ A contract that you fill for the sole purpose of gaining status. Monarchies do it to build alliances and amass armies, nobles do it to consolidate wealth and power, and the piss poor do it so they can be a little less so. I ask again, who cares why some low-life prick and his whale of a woman decide to tie the knot? Doesn’t hold any significance to _me._ ”

“Oh.” He takes a slow breath. “I see.”

Baby Five was adamant that marriage is servitude, but now Doflamingo says it is a business deal. Neither sound appealing, though Doflamingo’s is one that Masaomi can understand more readily. He signed and filled contracts all damn day. He and his contractor always had to reach an agreement or there was no deal and the application was tossed in the trash. Sometimes compromise was necessary, and some terms and conditions could be waived with the right amount of cash. So if it’s that simple, why does it not sit right with him?

Masaomi makes a strained noise and turns his eyes up to the sky, ignoring Doflamingo staring holes into his back. He’s got a death grip on the railing. Their understanding is incongruent, and he’s more troubled than before. How he wishes he could be so flippant, to disregard the weight in his gut, to fly free, unbound to this earthly concern! What did it matter when he did not plan to be wed? There was nothing about marriage that appealed to him! At least, he’d thought so.

Until Baby Five damned him with her question.

A whimpering housewife he is not, and neither is he the slave-driving husband, but he is also not a monarch or a noble or an impoverished wretch. He seeks not to serve, nor to be served, nor to wage war or hoard wealth or be fruitful. All things he does not want, is there anything he _does?_ Yes, in fact, there is one thing he wants, nay, _needs,_ the one thing he can never let slip through his fingers, the one thing his heart truly desires, so much so that it is a black void that can never be fulfilled.

“It’s a transaction, meaning you can demand whatever you want and get it?”

“ _Whatever_ you want.”

“Can one be married for equity?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“How about for passion?”

“That happens all the time with elopement.”

“And what of love?”

“What about it?”

Masaomi huffs. “Can one be married for love?”

“That might appeal to some people.”

“I see!” Throwing his hands out, Masaomi leans back until he’s teetering dangerously close to falling flat on his back, but like a cat he remains balanced with barely any strain. Quirking a brow, Doflamingo leans forward.

It’s a contract. Of _course_ it’s a contract! All involved parties must agree to the terms and conditions or else the contract is null and void, and therefore there would never be a reason to languish in a loveless marriage. Failing to fulfill the obligations as dictated by the contract means the marriage would be terminated, and he’d be free to find another agreeable party who _would_ fill it. No one party shall have the power unless it is written into the contract. If equity is what you seek, write it in! Passion? That too. Love? A simple affair. In fact, all of it really was so simple! Masaomi snaps back up straight and lets out a roaring laugh.

Doflamingo sits back and lets his little bird come to him. He climbs atop his big bird and grasps his face like he’s staring into the face of god. “I understand! How wonderful it is to see after being blind so long!”

“You’ve reached a revelation, have you?” Snaking an arm around his waist, Doflamingo presses Masaomi closer to him. _Finally._

“Yes! Quite sorry to have wasted so much time on this, my love.”

Doflamingo chuckles. “Damn right. It’s a lot easier when you listen to me the first time, don’t you agree?”

Masaomi grins, knowing full well he’s a sea lion in shark water. “Nah.”

“Cheeky brat.”

“I shall find Baby Five and apologize to her.” Masaomi attempts to worm his way out of Doflamingo’s hold but fails on every front. “I must say, I am finding it a bit of a struggle to accomplish that.”

“Really? If you want to apologize to her, then go ahead and do it.”

Masaomi’s eyes light up. “Perhaps that is a task for future Masaomi. The present Masaomi wishes to stay right here and kiss a king.”

“My my, what a greedy little thing you are.”

He wraps his arms around Doflamingo’s shoulders. “Only as much as you allow.”


End file.
